SIX men suspected to be phone hackers and linked to thefts of over 10,000 iPhones and illegal access to bank accounts have been apprehended in Lusaka’s Kabanana.

For the iPhones, the suspected youthful thieves reportedly steal them while working in collusion with hackers abroad via the messaging app telegram.

But on Thursday law enforcers, with support from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) cybersecurity task force, conducted an operation leading to the arrests.

Over 50 SIM cards for two mobile service providers, three 14 Pro Max iPhones and four Fortune phones were recovered from the identified suspects.

A source told the Zambia Daily Mail that the operation was carried out following a report of a stolen iPhone from which the thieves withdrew over K1,000.

The source named the suspects as Leonard Kasonde, John Phiri, Lewis Daka, Ephraim Bwalya, Stanely Banda and Mike Mwanza.

“Upon searching the vehicle, three iPhone 14 Pro Max devices, four Tecno Fortune phones, 30 Airtel SIM cards and 25 MTN SIM cards were discovered,” the source said.

“Through a routine personal device check, it was discovered that the suspects are connected to over 10,000 stolen iPhones through their chats or bypass.